Spies inside Facebook | Menny Barzilay |TEDxAcademy
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0:17 - 0:20I'd like to start by asking you
a few questions. -
0:20 - 0:24Please raise your hand
if you have a smartphone. -
0:24 - 0:26OK. Is there anyone here
without a smartphone? -
0:26 - 0:29Oh, I'm sorry.
(Laughter) -
0:29 - 0:32Raise your hand if you have
a Facebook account. -
0:32 - 0:35OK. Is there anyone here
without a Facebook account? -
0:35 - 0:39Wow, I'll speak more slowly.
(Laughter) -
0:39 - 0:43Is there anyone here that has more
than one Facebook account? -
0:43 - 0:45OK, interesting.
-
0:45 - 0:48How about Twitter?
Instagram? -
0:48 - 0:52Have you ever bought
something from Ebay? -
0:52 - 0:57Amazon? Deal Extreme?
With that, you are very good. -
0:57 - 1:00Is there anyone here that has bitcoins?
-
1:00 - 1:02OK, interesting.
-
1:02 - 1:04OK, last one.
Listen carefully. -
1:04 - 1:07If you had to choose
between spending three days -
1:07 - 1:10without your smartphone
or without your toothbrush, -
1:10 - 1:13what would you choose?
(Laughter) -
1:13 - 1:16Don't answer.
There are cameras here. -
1:16 - 1:19Ever since I was a kid,
I was fascinated with computers. -
1:19 - 1:23I loved taking them apart
and putting them back together. -
1:23 - 1:26Putting them back together
didn't always work. -
1:26 - 1:28Nevertheless, I learned a lot.
-
1:28 - 1:31But there was a downside to this,
as you would expect. -
1:31 - 1:34Friends, and friends of friends,
and even their parents, -
1:34 - 1:36used to call me and ask,
-
1:36 - 1:39"Do you have a spare minute?
I need you to fix my computer." -
1:39 - 1:41It never took a minute.
-
1:41 - 1:45And I hated the fact that computers
had so many problems. -
1:45 - 1:47One day, I decided, "Enough.
-
1:47 - 1:51From now on, I'm going to charge
anyone who wants me to fix his computer." -
1:51 - 1:54Amazingly enough, that actually worked.
-
1:54 - 1:57People started paying me
to fix their computers. -
1:57 - 2:01From that moment on, I loved the fact
that computers had so many problems. -
2:01 - 2:03(Laughter)
-
2:03 - 2:05So at the age of 15,
I actually opened my first business -
2:05 - 2:08together with a friend of mine
from school. -
2:08 - 2:10And it was a huge success for us.
-
2:10 - 2:13We didn't have to take anymore money
from our parents. -
2:13 - 2:15And we started with fixing computers
-
2:15 - 2:18and at some point we started
selling computers. -
2:18 - 2:22But the most amazing thing
about this story -
2:22 - 2:25is that so few people know it.
-
2:25 - 2:28This is actually the first time
I'm sharing this business card. -
2:28 - 2:34I only took this picture four days ago
for the sake of this presentation. -
2:34 - 2:36I'm from the last generation that knows
-
2:36 - 2:40how the world looked like
before the Internet. -
2:40 - 2:45Now, keep that in mind, and think
about the children of our grandchildren. -
2:45 - 2:47They will know us so well.
-
2:47 - 2:50I have no clue who was
my great grandfather. -
2:50 - 2:53It could have been anyone.
-
2:53 - 2:56There is so little information
about past generations. -
2:56 - 2:59And only selected few had received
this highest honor -
2:59 - 3:01of having their life documented.
-
3:01 - 3:04Right, kings and philosophers.
-
3:04 - 3:08But for us, we document
our lives as we go. -
3:08 - 3:13Every 60 seconds, 100 hours of movies
are being uploaded to YouTube. -
3:13 - 3:19In those 60 seconds, approximately 40,000
pictures are being posted on Instagram. -
3:19 - 3:23And 350,000 tweets are being shared.
-
3:23 - 3:27So, future generations will have
so much information about us, -
3:27 - 3:29they wouldn't know what to do with it.
-
3:29 - 3:32They could know us so well,
but so could anyone else. -
3:32 - 3:35Including our future potential boss
-
3:35 - 3:37that might approach
a new type of psychologist, -
3:37 - 3:42that will be asked to determine whether
we fit for the job that we applied to. -
3:42 - 3:44And he would do that
without even meeting us. -
3:44 - 3:48Just by browsing through
the information we shared, -
3:48 - 3:52and, yes, sometimes the information
we forgot we've shared. -
3:52 - 3:53(Laughter)
-
3:53 - 3:55I have no excuse, I'm sorry.
-
3:56 - 3:59No one needs to meet us
in order to know us. -
3:59 - 4:02So sometimes we will find out
if we got the job -
4:02 - 4:04even before we had the interview.
-
4:04 - 4:09Strange as it may sound,
today, 75% of employers -
4:09 - 4:13are already browsing through
candidates' personal profiles -
4:13 - 4:15before hiring them.
-
4:15 - 4:19One in every three admitted
having disqualified a candidate -
4:19 - 4:22because of information found online.
-
4:22 - 4:26And we're becoming even better
at sharing information, right? -
4:26 - 4:29So, amazing companies
are creating great tools -
4:29 - 4:33that will help us share
more and more information. -
4:33 - 4:36They do that because
they understand the great value -
4:36 - 4:41in holding huge amounts of personal
information, of our infomation. -
4:41 - 4:44We should think of them as a great machine
-
4:44 - 4:49that knows how to transform
personal data into profit. -
4:49 - 4:52And they make billions of money.
-
4:52 - 4:56But I want to speak about
a different type of machines. -
4:56 - 5:00Those machines also take personal data,
the same data, -
5:00 - 5:04but they transform it
into National Security. -
5:04 - 5:08Those are governments
and intelligence agencies. -
5:08 - 5:12So, with Facebook, we know
how they get the information. -
5:12 - 5:15We give it to them, free of charge.
-
5:15 - 5:18But how would intelligence agencies
get this information? -
5:18 - 5:22It's not very easy to collect, right?
-
5:22 - 5:23But wait a minute.
-
5:23 - 5:27If someone already collected it,
maybe we can use it. -
5:27 - 5:33So, many states understand now
that they have a great incentive -
5:33 - 5:37to put a spy inside Facebook.
-
5:37 - 5:39But not just Facebook.
-
5:39 - 5:44Many companies in the private sector
are unwillingly becoming pawned -
5:44 - 5:48in the national security games,
in the homeland security campaigns. -
5:48 - 5:50You probably recognize this guy, right?
-
5:50 - 5:53This is Edward Snowden,
who worked for the NSA. -
5:53 - 5:56The NSA is the National Security Agency.
-
5:56 - 5:59What do they do there, inside the NSA?
-
5:59 - 6:04In the world of intelligence, they are
called SIGINT Intelligence gathering Unit. -
6:04 - 6:07SIGINT stands for Signals Intelligence.
-
6:07 - 6:10That means that the NSA,
-
6:10 - 6:12much like Facebook and Google and others,
-
6:12 - 6:17is in the business of collecting
digital data and processing it. -
6:17 - 6:20So, every country in the world
has an agency -
6:20 - 6:22that is responsible for SIGINT gathering.
-
6:22 - 6:24In the United States, it's the NSA.
-
6:24 - 6:26Edward Snowden worked there,
-
6:26 - 6:27and one day he decided to do something
-
6:27 - 6:31that completely changed the way
we speak about privacy. -
6:31 - 6:33He took many documents and published them;
-
6:33 - 6:37many classified documents
from within the NSA, and published them. -
6:37 - 6:39You should understand,
that until that point, -
6:39 - 6:45people in my field of work
addressed NSA as No Such Agency. -
6:45 - 6:47This is how we called them.
-
6:47 - 6:50But right now, we have so much information
about what is going on in there. -
6:50 - 6:53So, one of the first things
that Edward Snowden -
6:53 - 6:54actually published,
revealed to the world -
6:54 - 6:58this secret secret secret project,
named PRISM. -
6:59 - 7:01This is what Edward Snowden published.
-
7:01 - 7:05This is what used to be
a top secret presentation. -
7:05 - 7:09It was so secret that
only selected few inside the NSA -
7:09 - 7:12were cleared to see it.
-
7:12 - 7:17While viewing this presentation,
we come to understand two amazing things. -
7:17 - 7:21The first one, they design terrible
presentations inside the NSA. -
7:21 - 7:22(Laughter)
-
7:22 - 7:27This design is unforgivable.
Seriously, guys. -
7:27 - 7:30The second thing that we learned
is what PRISM is. -
7:30 - 7:34PRISM is an intelligence
gathering program, -
7:34 - 7:38through which the NSA actually
had access to private companies, -
7:38 - 7:41to information that was stored
inside private companies, -
7:41 - 7:46like Microsoft, Yahoo, Google
and Facebook, Skype, YouTube and Apple. -
7:46 - 7:48The NSA could access those companies
-
7:48 - 7:51in order to gain access
to our information. -
7:51 - 7:54Obviously these things
that Edward Snowden published -
7:54 - 7:57created a lot of public criticism
surrounding the NSA, right? -
7:57 - 8:00The public wasn't happy with that.
-
8:00 - 8:02So, someone had to tell
the other side of the story. -
8:02 - 8:07The job fell on the shoulders
of this guy, General Keith Alexander, -
8:07 - 8:10who until recently was
the head of the NSA. -
8:10 - 8:13So, his job was to demonstrate
the trade-off. -
8:13 - 8:15So if you have privacy in one hand,
-
8:15 - 8:17and national security in the other,
-
8:17 - 8:19and you want more national security,
-
8:19 - 8:21you should compromise privacy.
That's that. -
8:21 - 8:26So, he tries to convince us that the NSA
is actually an efficient machine -
8:26 - 8:30for transforming personal data
into national security. -
8:30 - 8:31How did he do that?
-
8:31 - 8:33One of the things that he did,
-
8:33 - 8:39he went onstage at a big
cyber conference in Las Vegas. -
8:39 - 8:42This conference is for hackers
and security professionals. -
8:42 - 8:44I was sitting there in the audience
listening to him, -
8:44 - 8:49and he said about PRISM
and other intelligence gathering programs -
8:49 - 8:54that they were a vital tool
in stopping actual terrorist attacks. -
8:54 - 8:56Oh my God!
What should we take from it? -
8:56 - 9:00What should we take from the fact
that the NSA is using this information -
9:00 - 9:02to stop terrorist attacks?
-
9:02 - 9:07It is now the undeniable truth
that the information that sits -
9:07 - 9:11within private companies
such as Facebook, -
9:11 - 9:15is valuable intelligence
related information. -
9:15 - 9:18It is the type of information
that the United States can use -
9:18 - 9:21in order to promote its old
national security agenda. -
9:21 - 9:24Now, the NSA had a pretty easy life
-
9:24 - 9:27because all of those companies
are actually American companies, -
9:27 - 9:29which sit within the United States.
-
9:29 - 9:32So they could approach a federal judge
that will issue a warrant. -
9:32 - 9:33This is a magic key.
-
9:33 - 9:37It forces everyone to hand over
this information. -
9:37 - 9:39But what can Russia do?
-
9:39 - 9:40What can China do?
-
9:40 - 9:43What can any other country
in the world do? -
9:43 - 9:46Every intelligence agency in the world
-
9:46 - 9:50wants the information that sits
inside Facebook and other companies. -
9:50 - 9:52If the United States
can stop terrorist attacks -
9:52 - 9:54using this information,
-
9:54 - 9:57everyone can use this information.
-
9:57 - 9:58Make no mistake.
-
9:58 - 10:00It is not a question
of if they will get it. -
10:00 - 10:04It is a question of how and when.
-
10:04 - 10:07They can try to actually
approach the federal judge, -
10:07 - 10:08right, the American federal judge.
-
10:08 - 10:11It won't help, though
it might amuse him a lot. -
10:12 - 10:15So there are basically two ways
to go about it. -
10:15 - 10:18One, they can try hacking into Facebook,
-
10:18 - 10:20which is not an easy thing to accomplish.
-
10:20 - 10:22Trust me.
(Laughter) -
10:22 - 10:25The second thing that they can do,
-
10:25 - 10:27they can try to put a spy inside Facebook,
-
10:27 - 10:30so that he will provide
the information they need. -
10:30 - 10:33Well, when we think
about a spy inside Facebook, -
10:33 - 10:35this is probably not a spy
we have in mind. -
10:35 - 10:38This is more like it.
(Laughter) -
10:38 - 10:42It's strange to think about
state sponsored spies -
10:42 - 10:44inside private companies,
inside commercial companies. -
10:44 - 10:50But there are several reasons
that make this thing easier. -
10:50 - 10:54One, it's much easier to get a job
inside Facebook than inside the NSA, -
10:54 - 10:56security clearance-wise.
-
10:56 - 10:59The second thing is
that the risk is lower. -
10:59 - 11:01Being a spy inside Facebook
is not as risky -
11:01 - 11:03as being a spy inside the NSA.
-
11:03 - 11:07And the third, in the past,
if you wanted to be a good spy, -
11:07 - 11:12if you wanted to hire a good spy,
you wanted this guy. -
11:12 - 11:14This is the guy that
knew everything, right? -
11:14 - 11:19You wanted someone that would be as senior
as possible inside the organization. -
11:19 - 11:22But today, in the age of information,
-
11:22 - 11:26the people that actually have the power
are those people, -
11:26 - 11:29the hands-on guys, the engineers,
the support team. -
11:29 - 11:33Those people have unrestricted access
to information. -
11:33 - 11:35This is what you want.
-
11:35 - 11:37This makes your life much easier,
-
11:37 - 11:40if you want to put a spy
inside a commercial company. -
11:40 - 11:42And then the plot thickens,
-
11:42 - 11:46because there are many other companies
that hold information that is valuable. -
11:46 - 11:51For example, you might put a spy
inside a mobile operator. -
11:51 - 11:54And he could listen to your phone calls,
-
11:54 - 11:58and might be able to tell
where you're at at every given moment. -
11:58 - 12:01You might want to put a spy
inside a credit card company. -
12:01 - 12:05He will know everything about everyone
-
12:05 - 12:07while being inside a credit card company,
-
12:07 - 12:10and sometimes, your deepest secrets.
-
12:10 - 12:12And there are many other companies
-
12:12 - 12:15that hold valuable information
for intelligence. -
12:15 - 12:19So, where do we go from here?
-
12:19 - 12:21Someone hacked my presentation.
-
12:21 - 12:23(Laughter)
-
12:23 - 12:26Good job guys.
-
12:26 - 12:28Where do we go from here?
-
12:28 - 12:30We have to understand that today,
-
12:30 - 12:35commercial companies are actually
better at collecting data -
12:35 - 12:37than actual intelligence agencies.
-
12:37 - 12:42Companies like Facebook and Google
are better at collecting our data -
12:42 - 12:45than actual intelligence agencies.
-
12:45 - 12:47That's amazing.
-
12:47 - 12:52Think about Facebook
facial recognition mechanism. -
12:52 - 12:54This is an amazing tool for spies.
-
12:54 - 12:56Are you familiar with this mechanism?
-
12:56 - 12:58It means that you can take
pictures of your friend -
12:58 - 13:01and Facebook will automatically tag them.
-
13:01 - 13:04He will recognize your friends
and will automatically tag them. -
13:04 - 13:08So if you are a spy,
you could create this amazing camera, -
13:08 - 13:11and stand outside a secret agency,
-
13:11 - 13:14and take pictures of people coming out
-
13:14 - 13:17and immediately receive their names,
the names of their friends, -
13:17 - 13:20what are their deepest secrets,
where are they going to be. -
13:20 - 13:23Facebook is a dream place for spies.
-
13:23 - 13:27You can see how much the spy is happy.
-
13:27 - 13:29So where do we go from here?
-
13:29 - 13:32Should we educate our children
only to use applications -
13:32 - 13:36that were made by countries
that we consider friendly? -
13:36 - 13:38Or should we just accept
that we are living in a world -
13:38 - 13:40that has no secrets?
-
13:41 - 13:45What we can be sure of
is that nothing is free. -
13:45 - 13:48On the Internet nothing is free.
-
13:48 - 13:52We either pay with money
or with our privacy. -
13:52 - 13:53Thank you.
-
13:53 - 13:58(Applause)
- Title:
- Spies inside Facebook | Menny Barzilay |TEDxAcademy
- Description:
-
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. In this TEDx talk, Menny Barzilay points out that companies like Facebook and Google are better at collecting our data than actual intelligence agencies.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 14:10
Leonardo Silva approved English subtitles for Spies inside Facebook | Menny Barzilay |TEDxAcademy | ||
Leonardo Silva edited English subtitles for Spies inside Facebook | Menny Barzilay |TEDxAcademy | ||
Leonardo Silva edited English subtitles for Spies inside Facebook | Menny Barzilay |TEDxAcademy | ||
Leonardo Silva edited English subtitles for Spies inside Facebook | Menny Barzilay |TEDxAcademy | ||
Miloš Milosavljević accepted English subtitles for Spies inside Facebook | Menny Barzilay |TEDxAcademy | ||
Miloš Milosavljević edited English subtitles for Spies inside Facebook | Menny Barzilay |TEDxAcademy | ||
Miloš Milosavljević edited English subtitles for Spies inside Facebook | Menny Barzilay |TEDxAcademy | ||
Miloš Milosavljević edited English subtitles for Spies inside Facebook | Menny Barzilay |TEDxAcademy |